Hi everyone! As we move closer to application season, I’ve been trying to get a better grasp of which schools are reaches and matches for me; I’m looking to major in International Relations and Econ. These are my reach/match colleges I’m considering at the moment:
Matches: American, William & Mary, Bryn Mawr, Bentley, Mt. Holyoke
Some information about me:
~ Roughly a 3.8 UW (38/42 IB points - my school doesn’t calculate GPA)
~ Classes (Junior/Senior year): English HL, Economics HL, Bio HL, Math SL, French SL, History SL
~ SAT Score: 2050 (710 CR/ 720 M/ 620 W)
~ Extracurriculars: MUN (Co-President), Gender Equality Service Group (Founder/President), Scuba Diving (Dive Leader at local center), Swimming, Irish Dancing
~ Job Experience: Internship at the US Embassy for a month
~ In-State for NJ
I’ve already run the NPC’s on these colleges, and they have come out affordable.
So what do you think? Are these expectations reasonable or should I lower them? Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated!
I don’t know enough to opine about reaches and matches but do you have one or two schools that are “safeties”? Could be a state school in your home state or elsewhere. Also, Georgetown is great for international relations but they recommend 3 SAT 2 subject tests so have you taken any?
Good list. However, Lehigh is a match and William and Mary is a reach because it is out of state and many kids from NJ apply. Bentley and American are more soft safeties for you.
You need a real safety and that would be Rutgers or better yet TCNJ, where all in you would go for less than 20k a year for what is becoming a first rate school.
If I understand the OP correctly, it appears she is interested mostly on the suitability her reach/match colleges. The implication in her post is that she is either already comfortable with her safeties or has postponed that consideration.
I agree that William & Mary should be switched with Lehigh in terms of difficulty of admission for you.
I think Vassar as a realistic reach might be a good addition.
While it’s a prudently composed list, I would follow the counsel of the previous posters. My strategy would be to pare down the reach and match school to 4 each, and have an absolute safety schools of 2-3.
@uesmomof2 I haven’t had the chance to take any subject tests yet, but will be taking Math 2, French, and World History in October
@ucbalumnus Thanks for the input! As @merc81 suggested, I do have academic and financial safeties (Temple, Drew, Rider) that I’d be more than happy to attend. I just wanted more unbiased & experienced input on my competitiveness for these schools because not a lot of people from my school end up applying to the US, and I definitely do not want to get shut out when I apply.
@BatesParent2019 I thought that W & M might be a high match due to OOS status, but (if it helps?) I won’t actually be applying from New Jersey; it’s just where we have established residency.
That looks like a good list for what you want (aside from the need for a couple of tweaks, as suggested.)
You might also want to consider JHU or Cornell. Both are reaches, but not quite as long as Penn. Both seem to be a little more noted than Penn for IR (see link below). George Washington is another DC area “match” with strong IR.
Based on the above it sounds like you are a US Citizen living abroad (which two of my children were when applying). Assuming the foregoing, where you are applying from will make a difference for most of the colleges and universities you are applying to.
Colleges today want to have a globally diversified student body so they can tout their diversity and post a global map with as many countries as possible represented. What differs is how they define “international students.” A top Ivy, and possibly a Georgetown because of its location and international/political emphasis (with a surfeit of citizens of foreign countries applying), would identify only the citizens of a foreign country as international, while most LACs and Universities (up to but not including the very top) would identify a US-citizen resident of a foreign country also as an international student (when looking at the maps on the college websites focus on how each college defines international students). Several of the colleges on your list would fit into the later category, which, depending on how exotic your location is and the number/quality of applicants from that country, could benefit you substantively (or hurt you if applying from a country like China which has substantial numbers of Chinese Citizen applicants to a broad cross-section of US colleges).
The one school I would add to your list is Barnard College of Columbia University. You would be at a woman’s college yet be able to take courses at and get a Columbia University degree. They are likely to have the programs you are interested in, and it is substantially easier to gain admission to Barnard College than Columbia College (ACT range of roughly 28-32 v. roughly 31-35 and admit rate over 20% v. under 10%).
Your 2050 needs to go up maybe 100 points and if you do that your positioned much better. Georgetown is the only school that requires 3 SAT II. My advice would be to narrow your reaches down to 2 or 3 and spend a lot of energy making yourself a strong, interested applicant to these few. If you are taking the full IB you are probably going to a strong high school. What is the history of students from your high school getting into these colleges? Looking at your SAT again, from georgetown’s perspective you are okay. They won’t look at your writing score. It’d be nice if you had a strong SAT II that’s writing centric
@tk21769 Penn is mostly on my list for their Huntsman program- the coordinated double degree- but I have been debating on taking it off as the acceptance rate for that is lower than Wharton’s (!) and strong scores/activities can only get you so far. I did look into JHU, but my impression is that they are more focused on the sciences/their grad program (for IR), and I took GWU off the list because I hated their non-campus.
@am61517 I’ll have to look into Barnard College as it sounds like a great opportunity. As you guessed, I am living abroad at the moment (and will be applying from an “exotic” location) and I agree that the literature surrounding domestic/international students is very confusing. I’m planning on checking the websites/email my admissions officers about this individually once I get my final list down.
@Wje9164be My school doesn’t really have a history with most of these colleges as most people apply to the UK/Europe/Australia, but I believe that some of our alumni are attending Duke, Northeastern, NYU, Stanford, and Oxford at the moment. I was disappointed with my SAT score, so I will be taking it again in the fall along with my SAT II’s. Do you think it would be more beneficial to take and English test over World History? I’ll need the Math 2 and French if I apply to Penn.
@Erin’s Dad Thanks for your concern! Due to the nature of my dad’s employer, we’re considered residents (and therefore in-state) in New Jersey, although that doesn’t help much as my dad refuses to let me apply to Rutgers or TCNJ
You might consider Dickinson or Gettysburg for safeties. Excellent liberal arts schools w good IR. Close to DC for internships. As a bonus your scores would put you in the running for honors and merit scholarships.
I think Georgetown and Penn are mega-reaches. It is fine to apply as long as you are realistic about your chances. Also agree that William and Mary as an OOS applicant is more of a reach.
Bentley is mainly a business school so while it is a fine school I’m not sure it would be the best fit for your interests.
I also think Dickinson might be worth looking into.
You need to add some safety schools. Consider some schools that you could be happy at that also have non-binding early action so you will know you are in by December (some ideas: Fordham, Tulane, Villanova, your state school, etc.).
@QuirkyClarkie If you aren’t a Virginia resident William & Mary is very tough because of its very restrictive in state mandates.
So your dad is ok with Drew, Rider and Temple as safeties but not Rutgers and TCNJ? I find that shocking because the former aren’t in the same league with Rutgers and TCNJ. 85% of TCNJ students were in the top 10% of there class. The AVG Act score at TCNJ last year was a 28 which is the 90th percentile. Drew and Rider dont have stats anywhere near that and they cost twice as much.
@BatesParent2019 My dad is unconvinced about me applying to Temple, but mainly because of its location, not academics. I think he just has a lot of preconceived notions left over from his college days- he mainly thinks of Rutgers as a party school in an unsafe area, for example- and we haven’t really been around to notice the improvements in quality. While it does make it harder to find financial safeties, he’s the one who will be paying for my college, so my list will be influenced by his opinions (whether they’re right or not).
On a different note, my list now stands as such:
Reaches: Claremont McKenna, Georgetown, Tufts, William & Mary
Matches: Lehigh, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, American (low match?)
Safeties: Rider, Drew, Temple
Considering: Taking Penn & Bentley off
Researching: Vassar, Barnard, Dickinson, Villanova, Fordham
My unending gratitude to everyone who’s helped so far! If you have any more comments on my current list or suggestions for new colleges, feel free to comment on this thread!
Rutgers honestly isn’t fantastic. My dad tried to get me to apply there and I was having none of it. Where I’m going is just as good as, if not better than, Rutgers. I’m surprised your dad isn’t letting you apply to TCNJ, though; it’s quickly becoming a very good school and is one of the three schools (the others being Princeton and Stevens) that I would have gladly stayed in NJ to attend. Rider is ridiculously easy to get into, and isn’t that great overall. It was one of my safeties and I never had any intention of attending.
Being a lifelong NJ resident I am often puzzled by the instate opinion of Rutgers. Truth is, it is one great school. Nationally and internationally known. How someone could think New Brunswick is dangerous is also interesting. North Philly where Temple is located is a disaster.
I am a NJ resident with a son at Temple. I’ve noticed that many NJ residents have higher opinions of Penn State and UMD, whereas non-residents have higher opinions of Rutgers. My sons attended a boarding school in PA, where many friends envied them for having a “cooler” flagship as a safety option. New Brunswick is a little gritty, but it has a lot more going on locally than College Station or College Park, with easy train access to NYC. Temple is a large, public university where thousands of students attend without incurring all the horrors that outsiders believe are inevitable. The campus is heavily patrolled, and students quickly learn where and where not to go. I think students in non-urban settings are probably in greater danger when they get into cars than students at urban colleges ever are. The neighborhood around Temple is improving, furthermore.
